Martin Luther King III, the son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was on MSNBC recently, and he had some interesting viewpoints.

It's been 50 years since landmark civil rights legislation, and MSNBC is looking back. So three MSNBC "The Cycle" hosts, including liberal commentator Toure (he goes by one name), interviewed King in King's hometown of Atlanta.

(King's father also has a cherished history in Montgomery, where he led the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in the mid-1950s.)

During the MSNBC interview, at one point, it looked as if Toure would fall out of his chair.

King said that, while he was a Democrat, it was important for black Americans to be part of the Republican Party and even the conservative tea party.

On MSNBC, the tea party is frequently vilified as race-conscious and too conservative or libertarian for black Americans.

But King said African-Americans are not a monolithic people. And that the only way to affect change is to communicate with people.